


Rainy day secrets

by ParisianAmour



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21942556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParisianAmour/pseuds/ParisianAmour
Summary: As Nathalie has trouble getting to work one morning, Gabriel helps her by canceling their day of work, and with nothing else to do they begin to get to know each other better.
Relationships: Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth & Nathalie Sancoeur, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/Nathalie Sancoeur
Comments: 36
Kudos: 80





	1. Chapter 1

It was in the middle of January in the cold dark misty morning when Nathalie sancoeur had woken up from a restless night of hardly any sleep at 5am sharp to get ready for her usual work day at the agreste manor. 

In the morning she had gotten into the habit of having a strict specific routine to get ready for work. 

5am- wake up and get out of bed  
5:10-go through to her bathroom and run a boiling hot shower  
5:25-get out the shower and put on makeup and brush through her wet hair  
5:50- go back to her room and get dressed into her suitable work attire  
6- go though to the kitchen and make herself a coffee of double espresso to try and keep herself awake throughout the day and to try and make breakfast if she felt like it  
7:15-tie up her hair and pin it down into her signature bun  
7:20- be out the door to be at work by 7:30

But today was one of those days where there was a bit of an exception. 

She hadn’t been able to sleep at all the previous night, and so she was able to get a bit of a head start to her routine. 

She had just finished with her hair and had looked over to her clock above her sink and it read 7:02. 

Nathalie used this early time as an extra bonus to her morning, and so she had decided to walk to work that day. 

she had checked how long it would take her to walk through all the people and cross the semi- busy roads and it had all estimated to about 20 minutes or so. 

She grabbed her bag and all her files and belongings and walked through her door and locked it on her way out. 

Once she had come out of the apartment block and out onto the busy streets, she had set of towards the agreste manor with a mediocre pace trying to weave through the jostle of people. 

Halfway through her walk she had decided to take a little bit of a detour, she still had plenty of time left so she thought it would be alright. 

After she had turned the corner she started to feel little drops of rain fall onto her nose, she cursed as she ducked under some of the slim, tiny roofs of the near by cafes and continued walking down the street to the manor. 

A few minutes later she was back out onto the Main Street and she was walking with a little bit more of a faster pace because it was still drizzling and she didn’t want to walk into work with wet hair and clothes. 

As she had crossed the road to go past one of her favorite little coffee shops, she had felt the rain drops again on her nose and as she looked down onto the pavement, she could see the bricks starting to become very wet, very quickly. 

Nathalie had thought about ducking into the coffee shop and trying to wait out the rain but she had checked her watch and she would be late if she didn’t hurry up. 

It was 7:27, she had to make a dash for it, she couldn’t afford to be late. 

She had been working for Gabriel for a while now and they had definitely grown closer over time, but if she was late Gabriel wouldn’t be easy on her. 

Nathalie braced herself and as she took a deep breath, she ran. 

As She ran down the street she could feel her feet squelching in her heels and she knew that the balls of her feet would be sore after this, heels weren’t the most ideal running shoes. 

She could feel her soaking wet hair starting to fall out of its once beautifully tied up bun and she could feel it sticking to the edges of her wet face, which was probably looking horrific. 

She quickly swiped a finger up under her eyelid and looked back down and saw the deep black stain on the tip of it, her mascara was running, her clothes were soaked through, her feet hurt and most of all, as she checked the time, she was late. It was 7:32. That wasn’t good enough for Gabriel, no matter how much more he had started to care for her.


	2. Chapter 2

Once Nathalie had arrived at the big tall iron gates, she was rummaging around in her handbag to try and find the keys to open up the gate, mind you her handbag had gotten wet as well as including all of the contents inside of it. 

She was having trouble finding her keys, her glasses where full of rain droplets and the rain was still pouring down over her, clouding her vision. 

Before she could find her keys the big iron gates had creaked open, and as soon as the gap was big enough she had jumped through and into the driveway and had made a fast walk up the stairs to the brown wooden doors. 

As she was running up the stairs she saw The doors opening and watched as a slightly unpleased Gabriel had stepped out. 

“No no no no no”she muttered under her breath. 

She arrived at the top of the stairs and let out a deep sigh. 

“I’m so sorry sir, I didn’t mean to be late, I was caught up in the rain because I was ready much earlier this morning Which wasn’t expected and so I decided to walk to wo-“

Gabriel was taken back, he had never seen Nathalie look so emotional in her life, she looked helpless. 

Her clothes were sticking to her because they were so soaked through and her hair was hanging around her shoulders and down her back in long wet strands. He liked how she looked with her hair down. As he looked into her bright blue eyes he noticed all of her makeup had started to run down her face and that her glasses were completely useless because of all of the water that had gathered up on them. 

Before she could finish her hurried explanation Gabriel had stopped her and had taken her soaking wet bag. 

“Oh Nathalie, are you alright? Come inside now, I don’t want you catching cold”

“Yes sir” she said softly

“Nat, stop with the formalities, we are way past that, no need to call me sir anymore. My main focus is to get those soaking wet clothes off of you and to get you warm and dry” he had said with a worried tone, as he took her inside. 

“Gabriel, I’m making the floors all wet!” Nathalie protested

“I don’t care Nat, you are my main priority, now come upstairs and have a shower, I’ll put your clothes into the washer and then leave them out to dry”

“Gabriel, I know where my room is, I can walk by myself you know” she said as her teeth were chattering as she tried to remove his hands away from her waist

“ I know, I just want to keep you warm, and besides with the effects of the miraculous still wearing off, you never know when you might collapse, especially since you are soaked through, to the bone” he said as he held her tighter towards him

“But gabrie! I’m soaking wet, I’ll ruin your clothes!” She protested 

“Shh Nat”as he put his finger to her lips, “ I’m in my own home, I could work in my pajamas for all I care, I don’t mind if I get a bit wet. Now go inside and have a shower, I’ll bring up some spare clothes and underwear for you”

Nathalie blushed at this, she had always wanted Gabriel to pick out her clothes for her, especially because she would know he highly approved of it because he chose it.  
——————————————  
As she got into the shower she felt the water burn her skin Because she was so cold, she finally relaxed as she started to warm up, she washed her hair again and had just stayed standing under the hot water for a few minutes. 

Once she had gotten out she grabbed her spare hair brush and started brushing through her long black locks. 

She picked up the extra mascara she carried around and applied it willingly onto her lashes so she didn’t look like she had just trudged through the cold wet streets of Paris in the pouring rain. 

As she stepped out of the bathroom she watched as the steam flooded out of the door and into the main bedroom. 

She looked over onto the bed and saw a pile of clothes and a little handwritten note. 

The note read:

My dear Nathalie  
I hope you are feeling better after your warm shower, I have managed to put all of your wet clothing into the washing machine and I have asked the cleaning staff to dry it off as soon as they can for you, I have left some clothes for you including underwear and shoes on the bed and I hope it all fits well.  
Please meet me down in the atelier when you are done. 

Gabriel. 

Once Nathalie had read over the note she had a deep red blush covering her face. She was aware that she and Gabriel had become a lot closer over time but this was another step. She wondered if he was starting to develop feelings for her. 

Could it be that the love of her life, who hardly ever showed emotion was starting to feel again? 

She knew it was silly, but how wonderful would it be if he returned her feelings, or even acknowledged them at least. 

Nathalie looked down at the pile of clothes and saw, Gabriel had picked out a black wrap-skirt for her and a white collared shirt and a light, grey jumper to put over that. 

She wasn’t overly fond about skirts, especially since she had to show her legs. She didn’t feel like it was appropriate for a work attire with your male boss. But overall she was happy with his outfit choice. 

She had tucked the jersey and the collared shirt into the skirt and folded out the collar to rest on top of the grey jersey. 

Next came the shoes. Nathalie was always very particular when it came to choosing shoes. By the looks of it gabriel had given her black wedges heels with an ankle strap with a silver buckle. 

She was a bit iffy over the shoes. She didn’t like wearing higher heels for work, she thought that they were more appropriate for going out in, but none the less she put them on and then had a look at herself in the long length mirror. 

She was taken back. She wasn’t used to this specific type of style She looked wonderful, Gabriel really knew what he was doing, she thought. 

Next thing to do was to sort out her hair, she had realized that she didn’t have a hairdryer nor did the room, she only had her brush. 

She tried to dry as much of her hair as possible with a towel and then she just gave up half way and thought she would just ask Gabriel if he had one. 

She made her way downstairs making careful work so as not to trip, she hadn’t worn heels and skirts in a while. 

She walked into the atelier and was met with a gawking Gabriel 

“Nat, you look wonderful, I’m so happy everything fits well. I’m sorry I couldn’t find any suitable pant suits or anything that runs along your style, but to be brutally honest with you I think you may have found a new look!”

“Th-thank you si- Gabriel! I love it a lot but isn’t a skirt a little informal?”

“Of course not Nat, especially since you work for a company who is dwindled into fashion, it looks great”

“Thanks, now I was wondering if you have a hairdryer of some sort, I need to sort out this mess and get it out of my face”she said, pointing to her long wet hair. 

“Ah, yes, I do, come with me” Gabriel led Nathalie to his room and took her through to his bathroom. 

“Please sit”

“But Gabriel I can do it myself” she protested. But the last words were drowned out by the sound of Gabriel switching on the hairdryer. 

Once he was done Nathalie thanked him and gathered up her hair so she could tie it up in its bun. 

“Nope, not today. I will be keeping that, you look wonderful with your hair down Nat, it makes the outfit look even better” he said as he grabbed her hair tie. 

“Gabriel, I can’t work with my hair like this!” She whined 

“Oh well ms. Sancoeur, it is your lucky day. I’ve decided,since you have had such a terrible start to the day, I will give you the day off. Besides you’ve been working with me for so long but I hardly know anything about you, what better time to get to know eachother other from now”

“That sound lovely Gabriel, but there really isn’t anything to know about me”

“Oh yes there is, I also have some things to tell as well. So come downstairs and let’s get comfy and have a talk”

“Fine, get ready to be bored out of your mind” she chuckled. 

PLEASE LEAVE GABENATH PROMPTS DOWN IN THE COMMENTS ❤️


	3. Chapter 3

As Nathalie and Gabriel made their way down back to his atelier, Nathalie was starting to feel a bit anxious, she wasn't really going to feel too comfortable telling Gabriel about her past, a lot had happened that she hadn't told anyone. She was scared that there was going to be too much emotion. 

"Hey, you go ahead, I'm just going to the kitchen" Gabriel had said

Nathalie had time to calm herself down and gather her thoughts before Gabriel returned back. She kicked off her heels and took a deep breath. 

Gabriel was in the kitchen preparing some pastries and coffees for their little chat.  
He wasn't sure of what exactly Nathalie liked, but he had taken a guess and hoped for the best. 

Once he was finished he put everything on a tray and made his way through the house back to his atelier. When he got there he looked over at Nathalie as he slipped off his shoes and pulled of his blazer, and she had looked like she was in her own world. 

"Nat, are you alright?"

"Hmm? Yes, yes I'm good"

"If you say so, for a moment there you spaced out, if there is something on your mind that is bothering you please feel free to talk to me, after all we're here to talk now" he had said kindly

They say in a bit of comfortable silence for a while until Gabriel decided to speak up. 

" so Nat, please tell me a bit about yourself"

"Um... I don't really know where to start, but I went to school at Francois DuPont with my older brother, Michael and we lived together in a small apartment block opposite the park close to where the Dupain Cheng bakery is. 

"If you don't mind me asking, were your parents there during all of this?"

Silence

"No, my parents were killed in a car accident when I was 6 and my grandparents were all dead before I was even born, I mainly only had my brother and my friends at school" she said softly

"I'm sorry Nat, I didn't mean to intrude"

"No, no it's nothing to be sympathetic about, it's good to be able to talk to someone about it though, but enough about me for now, tell me a bit about your childhood"

"Well I was homeschooled so I didn't make any friends and I didn't have any brothers or sisters to keep me company so that's how I got into the habit of drawing and then later developed it into designing. 

My parents were horribly strict, every single one of my days after homeschooling I had an extra curricular activity, it was either, playing the piano or violin or fencing and martial arts. 

I was never allowed to leave the house until I was 18 because my parents thought it wasn't necessary because I had no friends to go out with. But when I turned 18 I got out of there as soon as I could to go and study far out of their reach"

Nathalie made a sharp intake of breath as Nathalie said, that it must of been horrible being cooped up inside your whole life. 

"Where did you study Nat?"

"Well when I was 20 I went to go and study law at Panthéon Sorbonne in the heart of the city and once I had gotten my honors and degree, i was 25 but then I decided to not do my masters. My brother and I were starting to become short on money, even though we both had side jobs the pay just wasn't enough to cover the university fees. 

I had a side job working as a waitress in Le Jules Verne on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower, the pay was great, but it just wasn't enough and then my brother worked as a cashier for La Grande Epicerie de Paris, we both earned around about the same amounts and we had our shares from the wills of our family members. 

Once I stopped going to university my brother and I had decided to go look for proper sophisticated jobs, I was about 26 when we had finished compiling both of our resumes and then we both began applying for jobs. 

Not long after that, I had come home from an interview and found his keys to the apartment, a credit card and a little note on the kitchen counter saying:

There's about 1000 euros left on there, use it wisely. 

I'm sorry  
~Michael 

I was devastated, for the next week I lay in bed crying my eyes out, I didn't eat I didn't go for any interviews either, I had just given up, I thought I had lost everything. 

Until one day, I was walking back home from doing the little bit of grocery shopping I had to do and another unsuccessful interview, when a man wearing bright red trousers and a red and white stripped tie bumped into me on the side walk right outside an enormous mansion with large black iron gates. 

He didn't really take time to apologize and just stormed into the iron gates, I knew that he must've been the owner of such luxury. 

"Oh no, that's sounds like you're describing me! But I don't remember that, I'm sorry Nat "

"Oh please, it's nothing to worry about, you looked really angry anyway, I didn't really want to talk to you to be fairly honest, whatever, back to the story"

So then once I had got home I figured I wasn't getting enough opportunities, so I posted my resume online in hope that someone would pick me up and ask for an interview and hopefully it would go well and I'd be able to earn a reasonable salary and live a semi fulfilled life" she chuckled

About 3 weeks went by and I was running out of options, I had been fired from Le Jules Verne because I missed too many shifts because of interviews, and then to make matters even worse I only had about 100 euros left on the card my brother left for me. 

But just as I was about to give up all together, I had a notification from a gentleman named Gabriel Agreste, he had asked me to come in for an interview to be his personal assistant. 

The next day I put on the best clothes I could find and set off for the address I was given. 

Once I got there I recognized the house, it was the same one the man with the red trousers had stormed into. 

I was a bit nervous, if I hadn't know any better I could've sworn the angry man wearing red trousers was Gabriel agreste. 

I don't think you remembered who I was,but after the interview you gave me some positive feedback and said you'd get back to me right away. 

That might I had received an email from Gabriel agreste saying that I had got the job and that work starts tomorrow sharp at 7:30 am

I was over the moon, I was so happy to finally have a job, and to know that I'd be able to live a fulfilled life. 

Or so I thought until I started working for an evil supervillain who wanted to revive his dead wife with magic jewels and then roped me into it as well and nearly killed me because I used a broken piece of jewelry " she laughed out loud at how ridiculous it sounded "and then he finally gave up because his son opened his eyes and showed him that he had moved on. 

So long story short you saved me from nearly wasting away and have gifted me with the sweetest young man and his father, my boss"

"My god Nat, I never knew. Do you know what happened to your brother?"

"Unfortunately that note was the last thing I heard from him"she said as she lifted her cellphone up and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from the back of her case. She handed it to Gabriel with slightly shaky hands. 

"There's about 1000 euros left on there, use it wisely. 

I'm sorry  
~Michael " he read out. Oh wow Nat, this is heartbreaking. I'm sorry , I can't even imagine how you felt" he said as his face morphed into the saddest face Nathalie had ever seen in her life. 

"Oh Gabriel, don't worry, I'm fine now" she said

As Gabriel grabbed her hand and held it in between his he looked up into her face and saw one small tear roll down her cheek 

"Nat-"

"Hey, it's alright now, I've learned to move on" she said as she smiled and squeezed his hand


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning Nathalie had woken up and realized she didn't have her clothes with her, they were still at the agreste manor drying. 

So she started getting ready for the day with her usual schedule. 

5am- wake up and get out of bed  
5:10-go through to her bathroom and run a boiling hot shower  
5:25-get out the shower and put on makeup and brush through her wet hair  
5:50- go back to her room and get dressed into her suitable work attire  
6- go though to the kitchen and make herself a coffee of double espresso to try and keep herself awake throughout the day and to try and make breakfast if she felt like it  
7:15-tie up her hair and pin it down into her signature bun  
7:20- be out the door to be at work by 7:30

She had decided she would wear relatively the same outfit as yesterday. 

She had picked out a maroon colored jumper and she kept the skirt and collared shirt the same and changed up the heals to a similar design but in a creamy shade of white. 

She put on the skirt and tucked the white collared shirt and the maroon jumper into it and flipped out the collar over the cashmere fabric of the jumper. 

And she had decided to pin her hair up anyway, even though Gabriel liked it down, she didn't feel like she could work substantially with it down, she would always just get distracted and would never be able to finish her work in time. 

She touched up on her makeup and gathered all of her things and made her way down to the apartments parking lot, she took out her keys, unlocked her car and drove off to the manor. 

Once she arrived, she quickly checked her appearance in her rear view mirror and once she was happy with how she looked she got out, grabbed her bag and climbed the stairs to the brown doors. 

She opened the doors with a loud creak and looked around, she was surprised that she didn't see anyone else around, she walked through the main hall and to the atelier, she walked past Gabriels podium and he wasn't there either, she set her things down and opened up her computer and got to work pushing those thoughts aside. 

A few minutes later she heard the creak of the front door, she thought that it was probably just gorilla coming back from dropping Adrien off at school, so she didn't really pay much attention to the noise or the situation. 

She was still a bit confused as to were Gabriel was, she thought of getting up and asking gorilla, but she thought otherwise and decided against it, he was probably still sleeping or in his studio, she didn't want to disturb him. 

She was just finishing up a stock report on the latest Christmas sales and specials when she had started to smell the strong scent of menthol, she realized that it smelt a bit like Gabriel's toothpaste. 

Before she could comprehend exactly what was going on she felt the pin from her hair being pulled out and all of her black locks cascading down her back. 

She whipped around furiously and saw none other than the famous Gabriel agreste, her pesky boss, who had her pin in his hand with a cheeky grin displayed all over his face. 

She forcefully got up from her chair and spun around to look Gabriel dead in the eye, his smile dropped completely when he saw her eyes screaming bloody murder. But not before long his smile had returned, gleaming more then ever. 

He started to back away slowly from Nathalie as she kept edging forward to him.  
With his annoyingly playful grin still plastered on his face the entire time. 

"Gabriel agreste, give me back my pin immediately" she said through her clenched jaw

"Ah ah ah" he said moving his finger in front of her face and then booping her on the nose. 

"I think I'll hold onto it, I told you I liked you even more with your hair down "

"Gabriel!" Nathalie raised her voice as she tried to grab it. 

"Come on Nat, can't you reach it?" He said as he held it above his head at arms length. 

"Gabriel! Give it back!" She whined as she clung onto his chest

"Aw Nat, I'm sorry" he said as he pried her off of him. He held out the pin to her and just as she was about to reach it he lifted it up again and started backing away from her into a small jog. 

She was fuming. All she wanted to do was finish up with her work and relax for a bit, but no, Gabriel had to start acting up and mess with her stuff!

"GABRIEL AGRESTE! Get back her right this instant, damnit!"

"Come on Nat, if you want it you've got to work for it. You can do it, just jump a little higher" he teased

"I can't jump any higher! I already have heels on and I still can't reach!"

"Aw my little Nathalie, then you'll just have to catch me"

Nathalie couldn't bare the situation any longer, she kicked off her heals and started edging towards Gabriel. 

"Gabriel, please just give me the pin back" she whined

"No"

"Yes! I need to finish up my work, I still have 2 emails left to do, and I know damn well they aren't going to write themselves! PLEASE!"

"No"

"My god Gabriel! It's a pin! I need to tie my hair back so I can finish my work and then I will leave it down. How about that?"she said as she stormed up to him poking him in the chest. 

"Hmm, no"

"I give up, I can't deal with you anymore" she said as she walked back to her desk, twisted her hair into a knot and stuck a pencil through the middle. 

She could hear him coming up behind probably wanting to steal the pencil as well. 

"Touch the damn pencil and I will physically, single handily break your wrist" She threatened in her monotone voice. 

She heard him sigh and walk back to his podium to do his work, she couldn't help expressing a little smirk. It felt good to know that Gabriel wasn't too stubborn with her and would actually listen. 

But what he lacked in stubbornness, he made up for in his ridiculous childish antics. 

Nathalie had to be honest though, even if they got really annoying, she did still like to see that side of him, she knew that he only showed it to her, it made her feel appreciated and happy and she also knew he was quite fond of his flirtatious teasing as well, which she had to admit, she fell for every time. 

During their lunch break they both head off into the kitchen to make a light snack, whilst Nathalie was trying to reach the crackers in the top cabinet, she felt Gabriel's warm breath on her neck and before she knew what was happening, she could feel the pencil loosen. 

She whipped around as fast as she could to capture Gabriel's wrist in her hand. 

"Would you like me to break your wrist? Because I will, and I'll have no shame in doing it Gabriel. If not, let go of the pencil and I shall leave you unharmed"

"Yes ma'am "

" there we go, I only have 1/2 and email to go and then if you really are so desperate, I'll take my hair out, but you have to promise me to give me my pin back"

"Alright, I promise" he said as he lay his hand on the left side of his chest, over his heart. 

" thank you, now come join me on the couch, we still have around about 20 minutes left of lunch, let's make the most of it"

As they sat down they started talking about all of their past memories of being super villains and how much Gabriel regretted it, he kept on apologizing profusely about putting her in danger and not realizing what he had in front of him the whole time. 

After failing countless amounts of times he had given up and had started warming up to Nathalie, he didn't want to rush things, he just wanted to start becoming better friends, and he had enjoyed sharing his emotions and getting to know her better yesterday. 

He enjoyed the times where their full focus was on eachother and when no one else was around. He loved flirtatiously teasing her, he loved to see her happy and smiling and especially loved it when she tried to fight back. She was so much shorter than he was and he loved that. 

He knew that he was falling for his assistant, his Nathalie.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the wait, I have terrible signal 😔
> 
> Enjoy <3

Once Nathalie had driven up to the iron gates the next morning, she checked her appearance in her rear view mirror and sighed a deep heavy sigh. 

Yesterday

Yesterday, once Nathalie had completed all of her work and sent through all of her emails she went to Gabriel and asked for her pin back. 

“Alright, now Gabriel, I have finished all of my work and have sent through all of my emails, I would like to have my pin back, and in exchange for you giving my pin back to me, I shall leave my hair down for the rest of the day until I go home. Alright?”

“Alright, but on one condition-“

“Gabriel!” Nathalie said, raising the pick of her voice as a warning. 

“On one condition that you leave it down for the rest of the week”

“No”

“Please Nat, I love you with your hair down, please” he whined as he started to reach for the pencil. 

“No” she said as she slapped his hand away. 

“But Nat-“

“Give me my pin back and we can come to a reasonable compromisation “

“Promise?” Gabriel said as he pulled puppy dog eyes at her

“Yes, I promise you Gabriel”

“Fine, here, have it back” he said with a playful huff

“Thank you, now time for us to try and think up of a reasonable compromisation”

“Fine”

“What do you think we should do, do you have any sorts of ideas?”

“Yes, I have a great one, how about you just leave it down” he said with a cheeky grin plastered on his face as he leaned a little closer to Nathalie. 

“I’m going to pretend I never heard that. How about I surprise you tomorrow?”

“Hmm, Nat, I have a feeling your going to come with your hair all tied up and not care about my compliments I’m giving you”

“ oh Gabriel, I love the compliments, I promise, I really do. But I’ve told already, I would like to be able to finish my work without any distractions, and distractions include my loose hair and you pulling it out all the time”

“I’m sorry Nat, but you’re breathtaking when it’s down even more so than when it’s up, I know it’s a silly thing to fuss over, but I just like you a lot... I -I mean I like you a lot with your hair down, yes with your hair down. Um sorry, I’ll give you the rest of the afternoon off if you’d like” he said as he scrambled away back up to his bedroom as he fumbled with his fingers. 

——————————————  
Today Nathalie was still following the same look as the last 2 days, she had grown quite fond of it. 

But today she had decided to wear one of her own skirts, it was a mini black pencil skirt with small slits on each side, at first she thought that it wouldn’t be to appropriate, but after a while of contemplating she had decided against it and she had decided she wanted to impress Gabriel. 

If what she heard yesterday was correct, that he said he liked her, could this be her chance? Could this finally be the chance she’s been hoping for?

Without a second thought she chose the skirt and chose a light grey jumper to go with it, she had put the collared shirt into the wash, so she had decided to just wear her jumper and the skirt with the black heels with silver buckles that Gabriel had given her. 

She gave herself a once over in the mirror and was ready to wow him today, but she just had one small problem. Her hair. 

So Nathalie had decided to surprise Gabriel and give him what he wanted,but she was also able to make it efficient for her to finish her work without distractions. 

She had done her hair up in a half up half down design and had tied the half up parts into her signature bun. 

That way she could keep most of it out of her face and Gabriel would still be able to see her with her hair partially down. 

She put her car keys into her bag, gathered her things and set off up the stairs. 

Once she opened the big brown doors and let herself in she heard footsteps echoing throughout the marble floors. 

She knew that it had to be Gabriel, she walked through the houses corridors and went into the atelier, she looked over at Gabriel’s podium and saw that he wasn’t there and as she looked over to her desk she saw Gabriel resting on the edge of it. 

“Ah!, Gabriel you startled me!”

“Sorry Nat, I just wanted to say good morning, and wow! You look amazing today!”

“Um... thank you” she said as she blushed a dark shade of crimson

Gabriel saw this and decided to play with the situation a bit. 

“And your hair is looking beautiful as always, I think I like this even better now” he said as he came up to her and ran his fingers through the half down section of her soft locks. 

Nathalie was taken back, she knew Gabriel hardly ever showed physical affection, he had only shown it to her when they were super villains and when she was on the near brink of death. 

But since then he hardly ever did, she missed it, it made her feel like Gabriel was slowly starting to fall for her. 

But those feelings were starting to come back, in the past three days Gabriel had started behaving a lot more affection and had started giving her a lot more leniency. 

They were becoming more like close friends instead of business partners. 

She was happy about that, she had hope that she finally had a chance. 

——————————————

Once Nathalie had got to work on her emails and assignments, her nose had started to feel a little itchy, she knew that she couldn’t possibly have been allots anything in the manor, unless Gabriel had changed overnight and had put vases of flowers everywhere. 

Nathalie was highly,highly allergic to flowers, except roses and lillies, dogs and weirdly enough, she was also allergic to a specific ingredient in types of hair dye, called amonium. She had found that out the hard way in university. That was a memory that was never to be lived again. Ever. 

Later on, once Nathalies work was all completed and all of her assignments and reports had been handed in and sent to HR it was just a few minutes past 4 o’clock, Gabriel had grabbed a cup of coffee for both of them and led Nathalie to the lounge so that they could chat. 

“Gabriel, I know that this might be a bit of an odd question, but have you recently put flowers up in the mansion?”

“As a matter of fact I have, I went out yesterday and bought a whole bunch for the mansion, it was starting to feel empty so I thought what better way to make it feel more homily than to put sweet smelling bouquets of tulips and daffodils around the house”

“ oh no, that explains it” Nathalie said in a soft whisper. 

“ explains what?”

“I’m so sorry Gabriel, really I am but I’m allergic to flowers, that explains why I have been sneezing the whole day”

“ oh good god, I’m so sorry, I should have asked you before” he said, feeling terrible

“Gabriel t’s not your fault, you were doing something good for the house, I just take an allergex and I should be fine”

“No Nat, I want to make you feel happy to be in this household, are there any types of flowers that you aren’t allergic to?”

“Yes, I’m not allergic to roses and lilies, but please Gabriel, I’ll be fine once I take some medicine”

“No Nat, come, grab your things, we’re going to the florist and we are buying roses”

“Gabriel! I don’t want to be a burden to you” she said as he pushed the small of her back forward toward the doors. 

“ look into my eyes Nathalie and listen to me, you will never, I repeat never, be a burden to me or Adrien of that matter, do you understand me?” He said as he turned her around to face him. He knew what he had done, he had put them in a very close position, so close her could feel Nathalies breath on his neck, it sent shivers down his spine.  
——————————————

They had driven down to the florist and as soon as they walked inside, Nathalie had let a out a small sneeze. 

“Aww Nathalie, you’re so cute when you sneeze” Gabriel cooed

“I am not cute when I sneeze, I’m highly allergic to flowers!” She seethed

She heard Gabriel chuckle and was about to shoot another quick remark back to him until he beckoned for her to come over and have a look at the roses he had found. 

“What do you think of these Nat?” he said as he pointed to bunches of light pink, yellow and orange bouquets. 

“They’re beautiful, I love them!”

“Wonderful, we can get 2 bouquets of each”

“What about the red ones?”

“They are beautiful, but red roses are meant for beautiful people, not for house decor, they deserve a more special meaning than any other color”

“True, you do make a fair point”

Once Gabriel had bought the flowers he and Nathalie walked back to her car, they unloaded everything into the boot and headed off back to the mansion. 

When they arrived back Nathalie had helped Gabriel unpack everything and arrange them all beautifully into their vases. 

She looked at the time on her phone, it read 6:07, she was meant to be off work at 5 o’clock today. 

She said goodbye to Gabriel and as she walked out of the mansion she felt the happiest she had been in a very long time. 

Once she arrived home she kicked off her heels and changed into her pajamas and sat down on her sofa and switched on the television to see what was on. 

Meanwhile 

“Good evening, I’m sorry to bother at this hour but I was wondering if I could please have a bouquet of red roses delivered to the agreste manor tomorrow morning, 7 am sharp?

Thank you, yes, that’s wonderful

I shall pay you in full tomorrow 

Thank you  
Good evening  
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning Nathalie had woken up with a bit of a stiff neck and the sun shining brightly into her eyes, giving her a bit of a painful headache. 

As she opened her eyes she realized where she was, she was still on her couch in the same position as she was in last night, she must have fallen asleep watching the news. 

She realized as she got up that she was late for work.she was terribly late!She was meant to be at the mansion promptly by 7:30 am. 

Currently it was 8:56 am. Gabriel was going to kill her. Even though he had been exceptionally kind and sweet over the past few days, all of that would disappear in an instant.

She scrambled up off of her couch and ran to her shower cursing, to turn it on, she threw her pajamas into a pile on the floor and jumped into her freezing cold shower, she didn’t have time to wait for it to warm up. 

Once she had gotten out of her shower she didn’t care about her hair or makeup. She just didn’t have time. 

Unfortunately, because it was the middle of winter and today was exceptionally cold. she couldn’t wear a skirt, so she had to spend more of her precious time that she didn’t even have, to choose a warm outfit for the day. 

Once she had gotten dressed into a pair of black corduroy slacks paired with a white polo neck jersey, she fumbled around in her cupboard for her coat and put on a pair of black boots. 

She ran into her kitchen, grabbed her bag and keys and sprinted out her front door. 

She decided against taking the lift and instead took the stairs.

After having a near death experience with the old man who lived on the 3rd floor and nearly tripping down 4 flights of stairs, she was safely in her car and out onto the street. 

She wanted to go over the speed limit, so she could get to the manor faster, she honestly didn’t care if she had to pay a fine. 

Unfortunately the roads had become covered in a thin layer of ice overnight, causing the traffic to become chaotic and preventing her from driving faster or even driving at a reasonable pace. 

A few minutes later, once she was out of the traffic, Gabriel had called, as she looked down at her phone for the first time today and she had realized that she had 13 missed calls and 5 text messages all from Gabriel asking:  
\- if she was alright  
\- If she was coming to work today  
\- Had she fallen ill  
\- Does she need someone to pick her up  
\- Is there a problem

She felt terrible, she wanted to respond, she really did, but she had to stay focused on the road. She couldn’t afford crashing, especially now. 

Once she had finally arrived at the mansion, she pulled up to the driveway and parked her car as she saw a frantic looking Gabriel who was, by the looks of it, ordering instructions to gorilla, looking very distraught. 

Until he realized she had just pulled in, his face fell into a relieved look that was still outlined with a look of complete and utter panic. 

She ran out of her car, grabbed her things and slammed the door shut as she sprinted up to the stairs and ran through the large brown doors and past Gabriel and gorilla uttering a good morning and a mumbled apology to them both. 

As she reached her desk she opened up her computer in record time and logged into her email with cold, trembling fingers, and she was taken back at what she saw. 

She surprisingly only had 1 email to send through, to a stock provider, and that was all, thank god, it could have been a lot worse. Thank the lord that she wasn’t late for any conference calls or had an entire inbox overflowing with important emails that would have obviously had to been written and proofed and sent through in record time if she was late. 

Once she had fallen back into her desk chair with a huff and caught back her breath, Gabriel had entered the atelier door. 

“Nat-“

“I’m sorry Gabriel, please forgive me, I fell asleep on my couch last night and then I overslept and when I woke up it was already 8:56. So then I had the quickest and coldest shower ever and then I was in such a rush that I couldn’t do my hair or makeup and then I realized that it was freezing outside so I had to dig in my closet to find suitable clothes and then I had to get down to my car without killing myself by running down 6 flights of stairs and then I was prepared to even speed to get to work but then the roads were icy and there was so much traffic and then I finally got here and you looked so distressed. I’m so sorry, please forgive me!!!” She pleaded, out of breath. 

“Nat, breathe, please!” He said as he grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. 

She was looking shaken up. He had never seen her like this, especially reacting over such a small thing, it was fine if she was late, it gave him more time to prepare himself for a certain surprise. 

“ ok listen to me, you are alright, you’re not in trouble, I just need you to breath” he said calmly watching her face turn paler. 

“Nat, look at me, it’s nothing to get worked up about, I don’t mind if you were late, we all have bad days, besides we had a busy day yesterday, you needed your rest”

“I’m so sorry, I was just scared you were going to fire me or what would I have done if I had emails and assignments due, I would have become really stressed, and with the effects of the miraculous still wearing off I still have coughing fits when I’m highly stressed”

“You’re alright now, how about you finish up your email and close off your inbox and file media for the day and relax. Besides, I have a little surprise for you”

Yesterday

Once Gabriel and Nathalie had come back and finished up placing and arranging the flowers, they bid each other a goodbye as Nathalie drove off home. 

That day he had come to a realization, that he had fallen hard for his assistant, he knew he liked her but he wanted to take things slowly, he wanted to become closer friends before anything happened. 

But that all happened within the span of 1 week, a whole lot faster than he had wanted. 

But ever since they had been to the florist, he had realized how much and how hard he had fallen for her. 

It had hit him right when Nathalie had suggested they get red roses and he had said back to her that -They are beautiful, but red roses are meant for beautiful people, not for house decor, they deserve a more special meaning than any other color- 

That beautiful person who deserved those beautiful roses was Nathalie. 

She had opened his eyes and made him realize what was in front of him this whole time. 

So that evening he had phoned the florist and asked her to if she was able to drop a bouquet of red roses at the mansion in the morning before 7:30 am, she had said yes and said they would be delivered at 7 am. 

Gabriel had done it, he had finally worked up the courage to Tell Nathalie how he had felt. 

And in what better way to do it than give her a bouquet of red roses and give her the day off of work. 

He just hoped that she reciprocated his feeling,he wouldn’t know what to do with himself if she didn’t. 

But those thoughts would have to be put out of his head so he could actually get a good nights sleep. 

That night Gabriel made sure that he got into bed early with no disturbances. 

He made sure to close all of his curtains tightly so no light whatsoever would be able to get in, to get all of his equipment and files ready for the morning and he made sure to lock his door to try and drown out any sound that might travel from the kitchen staff in the early morning. 

Once he was in bed he drifted off to sleep feeling happy and content for the morning to come


	7. Chapter 7

Once he had woken up at 6 am sharp, he was ready for the day to come. 

He got undressed and had a hot shower to calm his nerves, got out and combed and gelled his hair back neatly and even polished his shoes. 

He made his way downstairs listening to the light clicking of his shoes on the marble staircase, it was still quiet throughout the house, Adrien had only just woken up a few minutes ago at 6:30 am. 

He was expecting the florist to come in around 15 minutes at 7 o’clock. 

He made his way to his atelier where he walked up to his podium and began sketching to make the time pass faster. 

Only when he had finished the base of the drawing he had realized what he had done. 

He had drawn Nathalie in an ankle length column dress. It was a deep royal blue that extenuated her curves in all the right places. 

Just before he could go any further the sound of the doorbell ringing, disturbed his thoughts. 

“Good morning sir, delivery for Mr Agreste” the florist said as she handed the bouquet to Gabriel. 

“Thank you ma’am, enjoy your day” he said as he handed her 10 euros and shut the doors. 

He stood in his cold empty foyer for what seemed like ages just staring into the red bouquet admiring their beauty. 

This was happening. This was actually becoming a reality. He was going to confess to his assistant who he had been pining over for quite some time now, and he was ready. 

He left the bouquet on her desk as he ran up the stairs. 

He walked into the storage room upstairs where he kept all of his extra fabric, needles and any other compulsory equipment that any fashion designer was bound to need and always had lying around, as he searched for a string of beautiful ribbon to wrap around the stems of the roses. 

After searching through piles upon piles of shelves and boxes he had found the perfect color of ribbon for the bunch of flowers. 

It was a beautiful creme colored piece of silky ribbon that would fit perfectly around the base of the bouquet. 

He quickly cut off the size he needed and hurried off back downstairs, he knew Nathalie would be arriving any time soon and he knew she was never late, if anything she would be right on time or she would even drive in a few minutes early. 

He arrived at her desk and picked up the bouquet and wrapped the ribbon around them and securing it with a neat bow that he had tried time and time again to perfect. 

He went into his studio and put them out of sight until she came to work so he could hand them to her and confess. 

Everything needed to be perfect. 

He checked the time and realized it was 7:34. 

“That’s unusual, she’s always here on time, maybe she’s just running a bit late or stuck in traffic”

\- 7:41, first call to Nathalie. You have reached the voicemail of Nathalie Sancoeur, please leave a message. “Come on Nat, pick up”

\- 7:58, “she would have said something if she was running late!”Gabriel said as he started to panic a bit. 

\- 8:13, forth missed call. “What if something’s happened, what if her phone has been stolen, what if she’s crashed?”

\- 8:31,eighth missed call. “Calm down, if she had crashed I would have been called already. 

\- 8:39, “I’ll just text her”  
\- Are you alright?  
\- Are you coming to work today?  
\- Have you fallen ill?  
\- Do you need someone to pick you up?  
\- Is there a problem?

\- 8:50, “Something is wrong” he ran to the front lounge and found gorilla and told him what was going on. 

They both ran through to the front doors and waited on top of the stairs in the cold. 

Gabriel was ordering instructions to gorilla of where to look for Nathalie first, he was panicking, he had gotten so ready to confess to her and hopefully start again with her, but for all he knew he wouldn’t be able to do any of that by the looks of things. 

He had ordered gorilla to drive to her apartment first on the same road route that she took everyday to see if her at was anywhere and to keep a look out to see if she might be walking. 

Gorilla was just about to leave when they saw Nathalie drive into the drive way at 9:22 am. 

She ran out of her car, grabbed her things and slammed the door shut as she sprinted up to the stairs and ran through the large brown doors and past Gabriel and gorilla uttering a good morning and a mumbled apology to them both. 

He was relaxed but still felt a bit stunned, what had happened? She looked so frantic, it looked like she was on the edge of collapsing with panic. 

He ran inside to his atelier and saw her fall back into her chair with a deep relieved sigh and trembling fingers. 

“Nat?”

“I’m sorry Gabriel, please forgive me, I fell asleep on my couch last night and then I overslept and when I woke up it was already 8:56. So then I had the quickest and coldest shower ever and then I was in such a rush that I couldn’t do my hair or makeup and then I realized that it was freezing outside so I had to dig in my closet to find suitable clothes and then I had to get down to my car without killing myself by running down 6 flights of stairs and then I was prepared to even speed to get to work but then the roads were icy and there was so much traffic and then I finally got here and you looked so distressed. I’m so sorry, please forgive me!!!” She apologized completely out of breath. 

“Nat, breathe, please!” I said as i grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face me. She was pale and trembling. 

She was looking shaken up. I had never seen her like this, especially reacting over such a small thing, it was fine if she was late, it had given me more time to prepare my self for my confession. 

“ ok listen to me, you are alright, you’re not in trouble, I just need you to breath” i told her calmly watching her face turn paler. 

“Nat, look at me, it’s nothing to get worked up about, I don’t mind if you were late, we all have bad days, besides we had a busy day yesterday, you needed your rest”

“I’m so sorry, I was just scared you were going to fire me or what would I have done if I had emails and assignments due, I would have become really stressed, and with the effects of the miraculous still wearing off I still have coughing fits when I’m highly stressed” she was frantic, I’ve never seen her like this. 

“You’re alright now, how about you finish up your email and close off your inbox and file media for the day and relax. Besides, I have a little surprise for you”

——————————————

Once Nathalie had finished her email it was 10:45. 

Since she hadn’t had any breakfast or her usual morning coffee, she decided she would make her way to the kitchen to make up a snack to get her through the day until lunch. 

As she was walking to the kitchen she passed Gabriel’s studio and heard him talking to someone. 

She knew it couldn’t be nooroo, they had given up the miraculous quite some time ago. 

She decided she would go in and check if he was ok and offer him a little snack or some coffee. 

Knock knock - 

“Gabriel, I heard you talking to someone, is anyone hear?” She said as she entered his studio. 

“Um... no.. no, no one is here, I was just talking to myself” he said, trying to be discreet about the bunch of flowers, that were highly obvious lying on his desk. 

“Alright then, may I ask what line is inspired by red roses?” She said with a slight smirk on her face. 

“Oh, well since you are allergic to all other types I decided... that.. I could base... my... Oh whatever, I can’t lie to you!”

“What?...”

“Well ever since I’ve let Emilie go I wanted to become closer with you, I wanted to go slowly, to start out as closer friends, but that took a turn and it all pretty much happened in a week. 

Ever since yesterday when you suggested I get red roses for the house, I told you that such beautiful roses are only meant for beautiful people, not for house decor, and then that’s when it hit me, so then once you had left I called the florist and asked her to drop off a bouquet of red roses this morning”

“What are you saying Gabriel?”

“I’m saying that I don't really know how I can express my feelings to you, because I wasn't myself the first time I set eyes on you. I have had Emilie as my one and only love in my life and have also learned how I have to be able to move on, and be happy and not dwindle.  
But with you, everything has changed.  
I believe that you always understand me more than she ever did.  
I want to keep you as a flower I'm charged with looking after.  
I want to start over again with you Nathalie.  
I will take this responsibility seriously, if you are mine and mine alone.” He confessed as he handed her the bouquet of roses with the creme ribbon wrapped around the middle. 

“I... I don’t know what to say Gabriel”

“If you don’t feel the same way, it’s alright, I don’t want to force-“

He didn’t have a chance to finish before he felt Nathalies lips brush up against his and felt her hold him in a tight embrace with her hand on the side of his cheek. 

“So this means you feel the same way?” He questioned, knowing full well that she did. 

“Of course Gabriel”

“I love you Nathalie Sancoeur, and I’m ready to start a whole new life with you”

“I love you more Gabriel”

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Thank you so much to everyone for reading I appreciate all the comments and I’m happy to write more.

If anyone has any ideas of what I should write about next, please tell me 🥺💖

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, I’m really excited to be writing another fic <3  
> PLEASE LEAVE GABENATH PROMPTS IN THE COMMENTS 🥺💖


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